


Vision

by d2fmeasurement



Category: Silicon Valley (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-16
Updated: 2015-05-16
Packaged: 2018-03-30 21:38:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,662
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3952687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/d2fmeasurement/pseuds/d2fmeasurement
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Takes place directly after "Runaway Devaluation." Richard goes to a psychic who shows him two possible visions for how his life could turn out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Vision

Richard was walking home from the Mexican restaurant where he’d met up with Gavin Belson, trying to figure out how he could possibly make this decision. He knew everyone would be disappointed in him if he sold out, but wouldn’t they be even more disappointed if they all ended up completely broke because of him? This was at least a good deal that would keep all their work over the past several months from being a complete waste.

As Richard was walking, he saw a sign for a psychic. Something made him pause. He reminded himself that psychics were ridiculous, but he needed help with this decision. He told himself it would be like how when you flip a coin, during the coin toss you realize what you really want. He’d ask the psychic and if he found himself arguing with her, then he’d figure out what he really wants.

As soon as he was inside the tiny little shop, he realized how silly this was. He started to back right out.

“What do you want to know?” the psychic asked.

“I...I walked in here by mistake,” Richard said.

“You want to know something,” she said.

He sighed. “I have a business decision to make...a big one...I don’t know what to do. I guess I’d just-- I wish I could see, you know? What would happen ten years down the line...maybe find out if there’s possibly a solution that wouldn’t result in a complete disaster.”

She smiled and said, “I can show you.”

It was silly, but he decided it couldn’t hurt and he sat down in front of the table where her crystal ball was.

“Twenty dollars,” she said. After he gave her the cash, she said, “Thank you.” He sat there, waiting. “That’s all,” she said. “The wisdom will come to you.”

Richard was pissed but didn’t feel confrontational so he just left, defeated. How the fuck was he supposed to make decisions about a potential billion dollar company when he didn’t even know enough to not hand strangers $20 for nothing?

 

When he woke up in the morning, he was surprised to realize how good he felt physically. After a second, he realized it was because he wasn’t on a shitty bunk bed. He was in a big, comfortable bed with nice sheets. He rolled over and realized he wasn’t alone.

“Jared?” he asked, sitting up with alarm.

Jared woke up and asked, “What’s wrong, baby?”

Richard stared at him. “Why are you in...” He trailed off before he could say ‘my bed’ because it wasn’t really his bed or his room. “Where are we?” he asked.

“We’re home. What’s wrong? Do you have a fever?” Jared asked, feeling his forehead.

“No, I just...” He stared at Jared, wondering how he could be so calm when they were in some weird house. “This isn’t Erlich’s house,” he said.

“Correct,” Jared said, looking at him with concern. “It’s our house.”

“Our house...” Richard repeated. He looked around, “It’s very nice.”

“Yes, I would hope so,” Jared said. He got up to grab his phone and said, “I will have your doctor come make a house call. And I’ll stay home from work so I can take care of you all day, right after I drop Kira off at school.”

“Kira?” Richard repeated.

Jared looked even more alarmed and said, “Our daughter.”

“Our daughter,” Richard repeated. “In our house...” He looked over and noticed a picture on the bedside table of him and Jared. On their wedding day. “Oh my god,” he said.

“You’re going to be okay, baby,” Jared said, rubbing his back. “It’s probably just some sort of stress-related...something. You’ll be okay.”

“Mhmm,” Richard said, curling up against Jared. This was weird but Jared was actually pretty comforting.

After a minute, Jared said, “I do have to go get Kira ready.”

Richard felt pretty freaked out at the idea of, on top of everything else, having a daughter, but he couldn’t help being curious and he asked, “Can I come with you?”

“Yeah, of course,” Jared said. “Come on.”

Richard followed Jared into a little girl’s room. A girl who looked about five was sitting on the floor, playing. “You have to get dressed and get ready for school,” Jared told her. “I’m going to start making your breakfast now.”

“Okay,” she said. She and Jared both noticed that Richard was staring at her.

“Daddy is sick today,” Jared added.

Kira went up to him and put her hands on his stomach. “I’m making it better,” she said.

Richard stared down at her and smiled a little.

Once they were in the kitchen, Richard watched silently as Jared made breakfast and took of care of everyone.

He was still waiting for Jared to come back from Kira’s school when a doctor arrived. He was relieved to see that at least it wasn’t his usual doctor. One thing in his life had notably improved.

He let the doctor check his pulse and look in his ears and all the usual stuff. He answered the doctors questions, trying to be as calm as possible so he wouldn’t end up in a mental institution or something.

When Jared came home, the doctor said, “Physically, Richard is completely fine. He does have amnesia. He seems to think it’s 2015. It’s probably stress-related. If it doesn’t go away in a few days, call me again.”

Jared nodded and said, “Thank you.” When the doctor was gone, he stared at Richard and asked, “2015? So you don’t remember...our daughter or our marriage...”

“No, no,” he said. “The last thing I remember was the day Gavin Belson offered to acquire Pied Piper from me.”

“Interesting...” Jared said. “Well, it’s obviously just stress.”

“Yeah, you keep saying that,” Richard said.

“You have been freaking out a little bit over Oxford Tech. But, I keep assuring you that Pied Piper has the resources to make sure that they have no chance of competing with us.”

Richard asked, “We do? So...So, Pied Piper is successful?”

“It’s very successful,” Jared said. “Look at our house.”

Richard looked around and smiled a little. “I’m not a failure,” he said happily.

“You’re very far from a failure,” Jared told him proudly.

“And you and I are...”

“Very much so,” Jared said. He reluctantly scooted away from Richard and said, “But, if that makes you uncomfortable at the moment...”

“It does a little,” Richard admitted. “You know, just because...I don’t remember ever agreeing to marry you or even date you so that’s a little...”

“Understood,” Jared said.

“It’s nothing personal. This is just all a little freaky,” Richard said.

“Yes, of course,” Jared said quickly. Richard felt like he should touch Jared or something to comfort him so he awkwardly shook his hand. Jared nodded and shook it back.

Jared’s phone chimed with a reminder.

“What’s that? Is it something about business? Are we about to completely blow up? Are those Oxford Tech guys you were talking about going to destroy us unless I...”

“Baby,” Jared said, rubbing his back. “I mean--” He took his hand off of Richard, “Richard. Don’t worry. The company will be fine if the CEO takes a day off. This is just...” He looked down at the reminder. “We sort of had a thing tonight. But we don’t have to go.” He frowned and said, “But, they will be pretty pissed.”

“Who will?” Richard asked.

“I don’t want you to have to worry about anything,” Jared said. “I will cancel.”

Richard watched as Jared made a phone call. “Hi, it’s about tonight. Richard is sick, so he can’t make it,” Jared said. “I can still come if you-- right, mhmm...” Jared nodded with a defeated expression that Richard would recognize anywhere.

“Are you talking to Gilfoyle?” he asked.

“Yes, that’s Richard. I said he was sick, not unconscious,” Jared said into the phone.

“Tell him we’ll come to his thing,” Richard said. Jared looked at him with surprise.

“Are you sure?” Jared asked.

“Yeah, unless...are we fighting? Did I make some decision with Pied Piper that tore us apart?”

“No,” Jared assured him. He said into the phone, “Richard just told me he can come after all...yes, I’m very sorry I made you waste a second of your day talking to me...” Jared listened for several more minutes and nodded along with what Richard could only assume was a string of insults.

When Jared hung up, Richard asked, “Is everything good with him? What about everyone else?”   
“Everyone’s good. You’ll see them all tonight,” Jared said.

 

When Kira came home from school, Richard felt conflicted. He felt like he should probably hide away from her because he could end up really messing her up if she tried to talk to him and he made it clear that he barely knew who she was. But, the pull of having an actual kid on this earth was too strong and he couldn’t help himself. He went down to the living room where she was watching cartoons and joined her.

“You’re not contagious, are you?” she asked.

“No,” he told her.

“Good,” she said before snuggling up to him. Richard grinned a little as he put his arm around her. Jared walked in and smiled at them. Richard smiled back. He wondered if this was all some weird dream. If so, he wasn’t sure why his subconscious would make him married to Jared of all people, but it was pleasant.

 

When a baby-sitter arrived, Richard was a little unhappy to be pulled away from this weird but nonetheless pleasant family moment, but he was excited to see the rest of his business partners and make sure they were doing okay.

As they drove, Richard noticed the destination in the GPS was ‘Gilfoyle & Dinesh’s House.’

“Gilfoyle and Dinesh live together?” Richard asked. “I thought you said everyone at Pied Piper was fine.”

“They are fine,” Jared said.

“But they can’t even afford their own houses? They’re still roommates?” Richard asked.

“Richard...Dinesh and Gilfoyle are married,” Jared told him.

Richard laughed, then saw Jared was serious and stared at him. “Wow,” he said. He thought about it and said, “I guess it’s not any weirder than you and I being married. No offense.”

  
Jared gave him an understanding nod before pulling into the driveway of a mansion. Richard smiled, “Everyone really is fine. I’m glad I didn’t take that deal from Gavin.”

“Me too, baby,” Jared said before leading him inside.

Dinesh and Gilfoyle greeted them.

“There are the two biggest fucking nerds I know,” Gilfoyle said. “Come in and grab some champagne. Erlich’s already here.”

He led them into the living room. Richard grabbed a flute of champagne and started chugging it.

“We invited you guys here tonight, not because we like you,” Gilfoyle said, “But because we have a big announcement.” He looked over at Dinesh, deciding to let him say it.

Dinesh grinned and proudly said, “We’re going to be parents!”

“We figured if you fucks can all be fathers, it can’t be that hard,” Gilfoyle said. Richard glanced at Erlich with surprise at that, but decided not to say anything. He didn’t want to explain his amnesia to everyone. “But, we’re not getting some shitty baby like you guys did. We talked to that foster home you told me about, Jared...” Jared’s face lit up and Gilfoyle gave him a little nod of acknowledgment. That small little exchange of looks really warmed Ricahrd’s heart. “...and we found out about this awesome juvenile delinquent. Did you know that there are tons of kids with criminal records just waiting for homes and no one is on top of this? People are lining up for useless babies who haven’t done anything, when there are people out there who’ve carjacked a Porsche and sold weed.”

“Interviewing with juvenile delinquents was Gilfoyle’s idea, obviously,” Dinesh said, wrinkling his nose and thinking about how weird his husband was. “But, this girl Carmen is actually, underneath everything, a very good person. She just needs people who love her and have faith in her to bring it out.” He said, leaning against Gilfoyle.

“Good person? Don’t undersell her,” Gilfoyle said. “She’s a badass from hell and I love her so fucking much.”

“I’m so happy for you guys!” Jared said happily.

“Me too,” Richard said.

Erlich raised a glass and said, “To becoming a dad on purpose. Maybe I’ll try it sometime.”

 

Richard was pleasantly tipsy when he got in bed with Jared that night. He happily snuggled up to the other man. Jared grinned with surprise at the affection.

“You seem happy,” Jared said.

“I am,” Richard said. He shyly kissed him. He felt sparks. He started kissing Jared harder. “I’m so happy, he said. “Everything seems perfect.”

Jared smiled. “It is,” he said, squeezing Richard. “Everything worked out wonderfully.”

Richard kissed him again. He pushed against Jared and said, “So...you’re my husband...”  
“Yes,” Jared said.

“We’ve had sex with each other...” he said.

Jared smiled and said, “Yes. Several times.” He added, “We both tend to enjoy it a lot.” He furrowed his eyebrows and said, “Except this one time. Gilfoyle suggested I try--”

“I don’t need to hear about that at all, I think,” Richard said.

Jared nodded. “Of course.”

“But maybe right now we could...try it,” he said. He quickly said, “I mean, what we usually do, not whatever weird thing you tried the one time.”

“Yes,” Jared said. “If you feel up to it, I would enjoy that very much.”

“Do we do it a lot?” Richard asked curiously. “Are we in a dry spell or a slump or something? Or are we all over each other all the time...”

“It’s not...a constant thing,” Jared said. “But, I don’t think we’re in a slump. I think we’re both happy. Sometimes we just feel more like watching all he Jeopardy episodes that have built up on the DVR.”

Richard smiled and said, “I love you.” He kissed Jared hard.

Jared grinned and said, “I love you too.”

“So, how exactly do we usually...” Richard asked shyly.

“This amnesia is very strange. I feel awkward talking about intercourse with my own husband,” Jared said.

“It’s okay,” Richard assured him.

“Generally,” Jared said. “I put my penis in your...”

Richard could tell that Jared was uncomfortable saying it, so he said, “I think I can guess where it goes. Um, that...that’s really how we do it?”

“It’s what we’ve gravitated towards,” Jared said. “You enjoy it a lot.” He quickly added, “But, if you want to do it differently tonight--”

“No, I’ll...I’ll try that,” Richard said. “I guess not try since we’ve done it a lot...”

Jared kissed him and started undressing. Richard slid his clothes off too. “This is my husband’s dick,” he said, reaching out and touching it when they were both naked. “I’m married to this dick.” Jared smiled at him affectionately and nodded.

After a minute, Richard pulled his eyes away and said, “Okay, let’s do the sex...I mean, how should I...”

“Do you want to roll onto your stomach?” Jared asked. Richard nodded and rolled over.

As Jared started putting lube on his asshole, Richard asked, “How did we first get together? No offense, but it’s sort of hard for me to imagine that transition.”

“Um, it wasn’t really a sudden thing,” he said. “I think we just slowly grew closer and closer. You know, you were relying on me a lot to take care of you and we became best friends and then at some point we both just kind of realized that it had turned into something more. And I worked up the nerve to kiss you.” Jared lightly felt Richard’s asshole with his thumb, “Are you ready?”

“Yeah,” Richard said. Jared started pushing into him. Richard let out a breath. “That is nice,” he said breathily.

“I love you,” Jared told him as he pushed into him.

“I love you too. Husband,” Richard said. He rocked his hips back and forth. After a second, something occurred to him and he asked, “Is my name Richard Hendriks-Dunn now?”

“Mhmm,” Jared said as he fucked him. He started stroking Richard’s dick. “Richard Hendriks-Dunn and Jared Hendriks-Dunn.”

“That’s really nice,” Richard said softly. When Jared pushed deep into him, he moaned as he came.

“I love you,” Jared said again, kissing up his neck before he came deep inside him.

 

When Richard woke up the next morning, he was clinging tightly to the person next to him in bed. He realized after a second that something was wrong, the body in his arms wasn’t thin enough. It felt completely different.

“Jared?” he asked.

“What the fuck is Jared?” Gavin Belson asked after rolling over to face him.

Richard stared. “What the fuck...”

‘What’s going on with you? Did you have one of your...nighttime stress things?” he asked, scooting away from him.

Richard looked around. He saw a photo of him and Gavin Belson that was distinctly at a wedding. “That’s a wedding photo,” he said. “Wait, is that the Taj Mahal?”

“Of course it was the Taj Mahal,” Gavin said. “I said whatever venue my baby wants, my baby gets. Money’s not an obstacle.” He petted Richard.

“I am one hundred percent sure I didn’t ask to get married at the Taj Mahal,” Richard said.

“Well, you didn’t ask for it,” he said. “But, it’s what you deserve.” He patted Richard’s ass.

“How long have we been together?” Richard asked.

“What’s going on with you? You really don’t remember anything?” Gavin asked. “Because if you have some sort of brain damage, you’re being awfully cavalier about the situation. We should get you to a hospital,” he said.  
Richard hated doctor’s appointments and he’d already had one yesterday for the exact same thing, so he said, “No. I remember. Just...indulge me, okay? Tell me the story of when we first got together?”

Gavin raised an eyebrow but decided it would be easier to just do what Richard said than tell him he was acting even weirder than usual. “We fucked a little while after you agreed to start working for me. Then we did it some more. It grew on me. I decided to lock you down because I don’t like the idea of other people touching my things.” He ran his hand down Richard’s ass.

“So, I just marry whoever I work with a lot. What the fuck is wrong with me?”

Gavin looked at him, trying to decide if he wanted to deal with this right now. His affection for Richard got to him and he sat up, pulling Richard into his lap. He petted him and said, “What made you say that? I mean, I know I’m the first person you’ve ever married. I’ve run a background check on you.”

“Um, okay,” Richard said. “What I mean is...I guess I am starting to feel like...it seems like maybe I am the type of person who just marries whoever is around and whoever seems to be taking care of me and I don’t necessarily like feeling that way about myself.”

“You’re not talking about breaking up, are you?” Gavin asked, suddenly looking very human in a way that made Richard very unsettled.

Since he had the feeling he wouldn’t be waking up in this marriage tomorrow anyway, Richard said, “No. No. I just feel weird.”

“Feeling weird is a very intangible problem and I don’t know how to fix it,” Gavin told him.

His voice was so full of frustration that Richard instinctively said, “I’m sorry.”

Gavin pulled him close. “You know I love you, right? You’re a genius. The stuff you come up with at the Nucelus division impresses me every day. And you’re beautiful. You’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. You make me happy...and I want to be able to make you happy.”

“Thank you. That is actually nice,” Richard said.

“Why do you have to say ‘actually’ like it’s surprising for me to be nice?” Gavin asked.

“Oh, I...” Richard said.

“I’m kidding,” Gavin said. “But I’m glad that you think I can be nice ‘actually.’” Gavin stood up and said, “I think you should take the day off. Call whoever you need to. Our yoga instructor, our hypnotherapist, whoever. And tonight I’ll take you out to dinner, okay?”

“Okay,” Richard said.

“It doesn’t have to be one of those fancy places that I like and you hate. We can go to...” He sighed and sounded viscerally disgusted as he said, “A hamburger restaurant or something.”

Richard smiled a little and said, “Thank you, Gavin.” He frowned as something occurred to him. “There’s not a kid around here, is there?”

“What? A kid?” Gavin asked.

“Like...our kid?”

“The fuck is going on with you? You know I hate kids,” Gavin said.

“Right. Of course,” Richard said. Gavin squeezed him and said, “Please call the hypnotherapist or at least my acupuncture guy. I would take a little time off to make sure you’re okay but you know I have to make sure Oxford Tech is thoroughly obliterated today.” He kissed Richard and said, “Bye, babe. See you tonight.”

As soon as Gavin was gone, Richard started looking around for his phone. He looked through his contacts, which were now incredibly lengthy. “Who are you people, I don’t care about you people,” he murmured as he scrolled. “I only care about...” He finally found the name he was looking for, “Jared. Thank God.” He hit the button to call him.

“Richard Hendriks?” Jared asked on the other end, his voice soft and full of disbelief.

“Yeah...hi...” Richard said. He realized he hadn’t planned what he was going to say.

When Richard didn’t say anything, Jared asked, “Is there a reason you’re calling me for the first time in almost ten years?”

“Oh,” Richard said. “Um, I just...I feel weird today. I’d kind of like to...talk it out with you.”

“Okay,” Jared said immediately. “But I can’t leave work today until my lunch break. Could I meet up with you at 1?”

“Sure,” Richard said. “You can’t...you can’t just take the day off whenever you want.”

“No, we’re not all married to our boss,” Jared said. “That was extremely rude. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Richard said quickly.

“I really have to go. I’ll text you about lunch, Richard, okay? I’m really glad you called me,” Jared said.

“Yeah. Of course.”

Richard didn’t know what to do while he waited for Jared so he kept scrolling down his contacts until he saw another name he recognized.

“Hey, sell out,” Gilfoyle said when he answered the phone. “If you’re offering me to come with you and that corporate thing on some retreat to the Bahamas again, I am not interested.”

“I just want to get coffee or something,” Richard said.

“Because you live in a world of hollow husks of human beings and haven’t had a true friend since you left all the pathetic worker bees behind?”

“...yeah, I guess so,” Richard said.

“Okay. You’re buying. I’ll text you the address of a cafe.”

 

“Hey, man,” Richard said, approaching Gilfoyle. “How are you?”

“Fine. What’s it like getting fucked by Satan?”

“Wouldn’t you think that someone being Satan is a good thing?” Richard asked.

Gilfoyle gave a nod of acknowledgement. “Get me a grande green tea.”

When they had their drinks and were seated, Richard asked, “So...how’s Dinesh?”

“I wouldn’t know,” Gilfoyle said.

Richard frowned. “Did you two have a fight?”

“Not really. Once Pied Piper no longer existed, we both found other places to work and moved out of Erlich’s.”

“And you didn’t stay in touch?” Richard asked.

“Not really,” Gilfoyle said.

“That’s too bad. I mean...you guys seemed happy together...”

“Together?” Gilfoyle repeated.

“Yeah, I-- never mind,” he said.

“Richard, if you’re checking up on everyone because you’re feeling a sudden burst of guilt after all this time, don’t worry about it,” he said. “Don’t get me wrong. You’re a total douche. But, we’re all fine. Dinesh and me...we can write code and do system architecture anywhere, for anyone, and we’re fine. You’re the one who had a baby, a dream, and gave up on it.”

“It seemed like a good offer,” Richard murmured.

“Then maybe you’re fine too. I don’t know. I don’t care,” Gilfoyle said.

“If you’re really so fine without Pied Piper, then why are you being such a dick to me about it?” Richard asked him.

Gilfoyle shrugged. “It’s what I do.”

“Okay. Or maybe you’re pissed at me because you lost your reason to see Dinesh every day and now if you want to see him, you’d have to actually call him and admit you care. Maybe that’s why you’re so pissed at me.”

Gilfoyle stared at him, wondering when the hell Richard got so perceptive or learned anything about anything other than code. Richard felt victorious and smirked a little.

“Just call him. Tell him you want to marry him and adopt a criminal teenager. It was nice seeing you.”

 

“Uh, hi, Richard...you’re not going to ask me out too, are you?” Dinesh asked when Richard called him.

“What? No. I’m just checking in on everyone. Why would you--”

“Gilfoyle just called me, out of the blue, and said ‘I’m not a pussy, so I’m asking you if I can take you out some time. On a date.’ It was weird. And now I’m getting another call from someone I haven’t seen since Pied Piper stopped existing, so I’m just making sure it’s not National Ask Out Some Fucker You Worked with a Decade Ago Day,” Dinesh said.

“No, I’m not...you’re not my type,” Richard said. He furrowed his eyebrows and said, “Although admittedly, I’m getting more and more confused about exactly what my type is every day.”

“Okay. Good. I’ve had enough weird for one day,” Dinesh said.

“So, you didn’t say yes to Gilfoyle?” Richard asked.

“What? Of course not. He’s obviously fucking with me in some weird way. And even if it was real, that’s too...I couldn’t be with Gilfoyle.”

“Why not?” Richard asked. “I mean...you’d never thought about it?”

After a pause, Dinesh said, “I mean...no.”

“Dinesh.”

“When did you get perceptive?” Dinesh asked. “Fine, I’ll call him and say ‘yes.’”

Richard smiled. “Good. So, other than that, how are you? I mean, are you okay since Pied Piper ended?”

“Sure. I mean, I’d be better off really having a piece of something like that, but I’m fine...it was your dream that you killed.”

“Yeah...I guess so,” Richard said before hanging up.

 

“...and, yes, that pay out from your husband was generous,” Erlich said loudly. Richard had been listening to him vent for over twenty minutes. “But, it doesn’t replace the feeling of accomplishment of being a board member of your own company. And, furthermore, when I said husband in that disdainful way a second ago, that wasn’t meant to be homophobic. It’s just that your specific gay husband is a bad, bad man.” He paused and then added, “Unless he’s looking for pitches for more things to fund at the moment, in which case I would love it if you could set up a meeting.”

“No,” Richard said. He immediately felt guilty and said, “I mean, maybe. We’ll be in touch. I have to go. I’m meeting up with Jared.”

 

Richard felt his heart race as soon as he walked into the restaurant. He sat down across from Jared and for a moment he just looked at him, remembering being with him. He realized that this Jared had no member of that and felt his stomach sink.

“It’s nice to see you,” Jared said.

“You too,” Richard said. “I’m sure you feel betrayed.”

“I don’t. You made the most reasonable decision,” Jared told him.

“Yeah, I know it seemed logical, but...Hooli? And then...Gavin...” Jared cringed. “I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have to apologize for who you love,” Jared said.

“I do,” Richard said. “Because...I really love you. I’ve seen this life, with Gavin, and as much as I weirdly get it at times...I’ve also seen what life is like with you and it’s so much better.”

“What do you mean?” Jared asked.

“I mean I’ve imagined life with you,” Richard said quickly. “Running a business together and caring about each other and having an adorable daughter named Kira.”

Jared stared at him. “I love that name,” he said.

Richard smiled. “Me too. That’s the life I want.”

“Well, it’s too late now, Richard,” Jared said.

Richard frowned at him. “Maybe it doesn’t have to be...”

“We’re both married to other people,” Jared said. “And I have kids. Not named Kira, although that’s a lovely name and I’m sure she would be an adorable girl.”

Richard stared at him, frowning.

“You should go,” Jared said. “Go spend sometime with your husband. I’m sure he’s...I’m sure that I don’t know him the way you do.”

 

“Are you feeling better?” Gavin asked as Richard poked at the food in front of him.

Richard shrugged.

“I eliminated the Oxford Tech threat,” Gavin told him. “Easily. Another enemy crushed.” He squeezed Richard’s leg and said, “And you know how I get when I’m enjoying a victory.”

Richard smiled weakly. “What did you do?” he asked.

“I just reminded them that they don’t have the resources to compete with us,” Gavin said. Richard frowned at that familiar statement.

“I just want to go home and...not have whatever vigorous sex you were imagining. Sorry,” he said.

 

When Richard woke up the next day, he sat up and looked around, wondering where he would find himself this time. He was back in the universe where Pied Piper was a successful company, with Jared by his side.

Richard squeezed him tightly and said, “Jared! My husband! Thank God.”

Jared sleepily opened his eyes and grinned. “Good morning,” he said.

“I’m so happy to see you,” Richard said. “Husband.” He nuzzled against him. “Want to go watch our beautiful daughter sleep? No. That’s weird. We shouldn’t do that.”

Jared smiled and said, “I’ve done that before. She’s just so precious.”

Richard smiled and nuzzled against his neck.

“I’m glad you’re in a good mood. I thought you’d be stressed out today,” Jared said.

“Why?” Richard asked him.

“We have to pull the trigger with Oxford Tech,” he said. “We can’t put it off any longer. If we don’t bury them now...”

“If we don’t bury the now then what? They’ll come out with something that competes with us?”

Jared nodded.

“Well, maybe...maybe that’s for the best,” Richard said. “I mean, we don’t actually have to crush them, right? Just because we can.”

“I guess...there are other ways of handling it...” Jared admitted.

“Then let’s figure them out together,” Richard said.

“It won’t be easy,” Jared reminded him. “The most logical course of action is to use our resources to stop them from getting off the ground now.”

“I know,” Richard said. “But, shouldn’t we use some of these resources to come up with a better way? I mean, when I decided not to go work for Hooli, I didn’t do it so that my friends would be happy or so that the right people would be in my life, even though I’m so glad that’s happened. My dream was to make a company that’s different from Hooli. And if I don’t actually do that, then none of this has really mattered.” He frowned and then said, “Oh except for our daughter getting adopted. And Gilfoyle and Dinesh’s daughter getting adopted. and Erlich having his kids. Like, that stuff matters, obviously--”

“Babe,” Jared said gently. “You made a beautiful point but now you’re just rambling a little.”

Richard nodded and said, “Right. Thank you.” He squeezed Jared’s hand and said, “I think we should get to work figuring out what we’re going to do that doesn’t involve crushing our enemies like ants.”

Jared smiled and said, “I think that’s a good idea.”

“But, we can still have victory sex afterwards,” Richard said shyly. Jared grinned at him and kissed his neck.

That night, Richard slept well. Pied Piper had figured things out and for the first time in his life, he felt completely confident with a decision he’d made. He held tightly onto Jared. Everything felt perfect.

 

When he woke up alone, in an uncomfortable bunk bed, for a minute he felt incredibly sad, like he’d lost everything. He stood up and saw the contract Gavin Belson had given him sitting on his bedside table. He cringed and quickly ripped it up. “I am not letting you fuck me,” he murmured as he threw the ripped up papers in the garbage.

He went outside and saw Jared standing there, with coffee for him. “I made you coffee,” he said. “You went out late last night. Do you mind if I ask what that was about?”

“Nothing important,” Richard said, grinning up at Jared as he took the coffee.

Jared tilted his head, curious about why Richard was looking at him like that. “Thank you for the coffee,” he said, grinning.

“It’s not a big deal,” Jared told him with a little laugh.

The sudden feeling of disappointment he’d felt when he woke up was now replaced with a bubbly happiness. Because he realized the perfect life of building up Pied Piper and being married to Jared hadn’t been ripped away from him. He just now had the chance to actually live all of it. He would get to experience their first kiss and the first time each of them held their daughter and a million little firsts he couldn't even conceive of yet.


End file.
